Bogdanka headquarters Courtesy of Bogdanka

Polish utility Enea’s reported public declaration of interest in buying a stake in coal miner Lubelski Węgiel Bogdanka could have seriously handicapped the company’s chances of making an investment at a reasonable price, according to analysts.

Enea’s deputy CEO reportedly said last week – in a statement which the company later denied was ever made – that the firm is considering investing in the coal miner in order to gain direct access to coal used for energy production.

“We are considering such an idea and we are running a deep analysis of it now,” deputy CEO Krzysztof Zborowski reportedly said in an interview for TVN CNBC. “We have also thought about that before.”

“This is in a study phase, but privately I think that creating a line from extraction, through production and sale, does make a lot of sense.”

The majority of analysts polled by Parkiet said in reference to the reported comments that public statements in which company officials express an interest in a certain investment can give the potential buyer a weaker bargaining position, thus forcing it to pay a higher price than it might otherwise have done.

Also last week Bogdanka announced that it has signed a 19-year coal supply deal worth zł.11.2 billion with Enea. Deliveries to Enea’s planned 1,000 megawatt power block are due to start in Q1 2017.